Turn a Blind Eye
by CyborgCinderella
Summary: Years pass and people change, but do they really change so much? When Dipper arrives suddenly back at Gravity falls after falling out of contact for months, Wendy cant help but feel unnerved by the changes in him, or the stranger he has in tow. When he seems to have only the haziest recollection of a very important sweater-loving girl, she knows something is up.
1. Unfamiliar Familiar

The sun spiked maliciously though the gap in the curtains, and located Wendy's eyes with a pin-point precision that was far more efficient in getting her to move that her long-silenced alarm clock had been. She attempted a stretch, her limbs pushing against the piles of clothing she neglected to put away after washing, gathered in mounds around her sleeping form. She lay there for a moment, and told herself that, in one minute, 60 easy seconds, she would get up. One minute passed. And then another. And then fifteen. After twenty minutes had passed of her failing to push herself off her pillow, Wendy was ready to resign herself to a day in bed. Just as her eyes were drifting shut, her phone began to ring.

Its shrill, buzzing tone filled the air, rattling against the floor where she had left it to charge at the other side of the room. Amidst her mounds of blankets, Wendy let out a strangled groan as she watched it buzz across the boards, neon screen lighting up urgently. From the bed, the gap seemed to span miles, and it was only with a colossal effort of will power that she convinced herself to move. Leaning precariously, she reached towards the phone, willing it with all her might to come within her reach, but even with only the tips of her toes resting on the mattress and using the full extent of her long frame, it wasn't enough. Growing desperate, she overreached, and there was a long, teetering moment in which her toes lost their purchase on the bed, and she found all her weight suddenly on one noodle-y arm, which quickly gave up.

The floor came up to meet her as she fell, and met her chin with a hard blow, but the phone was finally in her grasp. She scooped it up triumphantly, and answered, flipping onto her back as she did so.

"Hello? Sorry I didn't answer right away man, I was asleep." She apologised by way of greeting, but the voice that answered froze her blood.

"Sleepin' on the job, eh? Is that what I'm paying you for?" Stan's usual rough voice sounded even worse first thing in the morning, and Wendy backpedalled madly.

"What? Me? Asleep? Nah Stan, dude, that's what all the kids are saying these days. It means I was…busy?" she hazarded, grimincing at her lame excuse. Obviously Stan thought the same as she did, for his reply was a begrudging grunt.

"So…Stan, how goes it? How's the cruise?" she asked, trying to change the subject while desperately rummaging through her clothes to find a clean flannel shirt. She wondered how so many shirts managed to be dirty at the same time when she could swear she washed some yesterday.

"Hah! 'cruise' is putting it lightly kid, Ford just dragged us down to the back-end of the Bermuda triangle," replied Stan, "and I thought sirens were supposed to be beautiful! I tellya, its just monster fighting day in, day out; I'm living off fried fish and beer."

"Sounds great man," said Wendy brightly, and grinned as she heard the particular grunt that meant she was right, "So, uh, why did you call?" she asked, as she dragged a clean-ish shirt over her head.

"Huh? Oh yeah. Well I did call up the shack but since you were out talking to the 'cool kids' or whatever I guess you must have missed it."

"Sorry about that Stan I was just taking out the trash; Soos isn't back from his honeymoon yet, so I'm doing all the jobs." Wendy lied, pulling on her boots as she hopped across the kitchen.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Well turns out Dipper has decided to come back to town for the summer. He'll be arriving around two o'clock I think. What time is it there? Come to think of it, what time is it here? Is it late enough to be drinking this?" She could hear Stan and Ford begin bickering in the background, giving Wendy time to pull on her jacket and begin her morning search for the keys. But the news of Dipper coming caused Wendy to break into a smile.

"He's really coming home? That's great!" The gang will be back together in a week or two then, she thought as she climbed into Stan's car, which she had commandeered while he was away. How long had it been since she'd seen Dipper? Eight months maybe?

"I'll pick him up when he gets here then, and Mabel will be here tomorrow," she said to Stan, wondering if he could hear the car starting in the background. She wondered why the twins hadn't gotten the same bus; they went to college in the same city didn't they?

"Yeah, it'll be nice, whatever," Stan said dismissively, but Wendy could tell he was pleased, "Last time she called Mable said she was going to face-call us from the shack, whatever that is, so you might be seeing this handsome mug sooner than you think! So the mystery shack better be in ship shape! And remember, Red, not a scratch on my car!"

Wendy cringed as he hung up, and narrowly avoided hitting the mailbox on the way out. Once she was out on the pine-lined road that lead into town she allowed herself to relax, shaking the sudden stress of her morning off her shoulders. Ok… she had to pick up Dipper at two and the time was now… She squinted at the dashboard clock, the car veering dangerously on the road as she did so… 13:55.

Five to two! With a cry of panic, Wendy floored it, and managed to get to the bus stop for five past. Legs shaky from the number of close calls she had just had with stop lights, she walked into the station, if the glamorised shed that boasted the sign should even be called that. But there was no sign of Dipper. Yet the bus was outside, and with no sign of passengers. In the corner was an old man, whom Wendy vaguely recognised from around town. After some prodding, he finally woke up enough to tell her "That pine boy" had gotten off at the mystery shack. Of course, why didn't she think of that? How could she have forgotten the mystery shack bus stop? It was the reason for Stan's success! Cursing her still-sleep fogged brain, Wendy took off again in the car, and arrived at the mystery shack five blood-curdling minutes of a drive later.

And there he was, same old Dipper. Except…he wasn't. Though he was sitting on the step, a book in his lap and a look on his face of concentration, he was suitably different. Gone were the goofy t-shirts and bomber vest that had been a staple of his style for so long, a plain white t-shirt and slightly-oversized blazer in their place. These past few years Dipper had preferred to wear comfortable well-worn jeans or shorts, but those too had been replaced with light beige chinos of the kind many of her ex's in high-school seemed to favour. Even the clumpy hiking boots he preferred were gone, a pair of tightly-laced converse in their place. But there was something else that was throwing off his image even more, something she couldn't quite place…

Still, she supposed everybody changed sometimes. Pulling up to the shack with a screech, Wendy jumped out of the car almost as soon as it stopped, a grin breaking over her face as Dipper looked up.

"Hey college guy, fancy seeing you here!" she called as she walked across the gravel towards him. Dipper stood up, smiling gently as she approached. She pulled him into a hug for a second then stood back, hands on his shoulders and gave him a once over.

"Damn I can't even reach to give you a nudgie anymore dude, what's your deal?" she scolded as she pushed past him to unlock the mystery shack. Dipper chuckled behind her, and she found she was surprised with how deep his voice had gotten when he spoke, though she had seen him only the summer before.

"Wendy I've been taller than you for like two years now" he said, but Wendy merely shrugged, holding the door open for him as he passed.

"Well, I haven't counted the last two years cause as far as I'm concerned, your hat puts an extra two inches on you," she said, and it was with that that she finally put a finger on what made him look so odd to her. "That's it man, where's your hat?"

Dipper dropped his suitcases in the hall and turned to look at her with an expression of mild confusion and a questioning tilt to his head.

"My hat? What hat?" he asked, half smiling, an incredulous frown on his face. Wendy blinked in surprise, and shook her head in disbelief.

"No, Dipper come on, your hat. Y'know _the_ hat?" she raised an eyebrow at his blank expression, "Mabel wears jumpers, Dipper wears the hat? You wore it all last summer? And all the summers before that? We did the iconic hat swap? I bought you one for your _birthday_?" she said, sure Dipper was joking as sure as he was that he wasn't.

He frowned now, slightly worried that this wasn't just a case of mistaken hatentity. He ran a hand over his hair, ruffling the brown tresses, which were slightly longer than Wendy remembered, and shook his head.

"You must have got it wrong, Wendy" he said, walking past her and further into the shack, "Forget about it," he said over his shoulder.

"Whoa, it's always just the same as you remember, huh?" he said to the room at large as he took in the gift shop, bending down to peer at the jar of eyeballs. Wendy followed him, trying to shake of the slight feeling of unease that had settled on her after the weird exchange. She leaned against the counter and cast an eye around the shop.

"I wouldn't know dude, I've never left long enough to find out," she sighed, but then thought of something that brightened her up, "Hey, Mabel will be here soon! All of us will be together again," she said with a smile, and looked back, towards the picture of the mystery shack gang that that Stan had hung behind the counter after the twins first summer here.

It wasn't the best photo, as photos went; Soos had barged in and grabbed them all in a group hug just as the flash went, so everyone had a slightly squished and surprised look, but it seemed to capture the essence of the mystery shack crew. Mabel and Dipper cheek to cheek, Mabel grinning like she had just fought a unicorn, Dipper looking slightly nervous, Stan obviously yelling at Soos who was giving his oblivious grin and Wendy looking, as far as she was concerned, pretty cool.

Dipper followed her gaze, and she turned in time to see a look of confusion cross his face as he examined it. "Huh, I am wearing a hat there… but that was ages ago" he murmured to himself, and then almost as if against his will, his hand raised and he reached towards the picture, pointing out each face.

"You, me, Grunkle Stan, Soos, and..." Wendy glanced towards him again as he faltered, and saw for certain his brow crinkle in concern. "Mabel? Yeah Mabel, of course…" he rocked back on his heels and shook his head in disbelief, a nervous smile spreading across his face.

"Whoa, had a total brain burp moment there, weird how those happen huh?" he said, shoving his hands in the pockets of his blazer, a tactic he used to do when he was nervous around her, Wendy recalled, but she felt Dipper might have another reason to be nervous this time. She decided to play it cool, and shrugged, hopping up to sit on the counter.

"Yeah man, no worries, it happens to me all the time" she said, but Dipper was still staring at the picture like he couldn't believe what he saw. Wendy turned to look with him, and tried to imagine what held him so captivated.

"Heh, we were so young there" she chuckled, and pointed out Soos, "Hah, Soos couldn't even grow a real moustache then!" she glanced at Dipper, who seemed to be overcoming his shock.

"To tell the truth it's not much better now, is it?" he replied, trying to bite back a smile, but as soon as they caught each other's eye they broke into giggles. Wendy even felt comfortable enough to lean against him as she did so, and noticed that he didn't pull away as he would have done even last summer. Perhaps college really does mature people, she thought, as the laughter died away. Maybe this summer they could have a real friendship without Dipper blushing every time he looked at her. So why did she feel so weirded out right now? She let out a short, frustrated breath.

"You ok Wendy?" Dipper asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Wendy flushed, feeling as if he had read her thoughts.

"What? Hah, no I'm ok. I…I was just thinking how weird it is that we're so old now." She said hurriedly, looking away.

"Hey, it hasn't been that long since I've seen you" chuckled Dipper, and gave her arm a playful poke "And you're older than me, Miss Twenty-one." Wendy's shoulders shot up around her ears as she cringed, and she flapped her hands at him, which he shook off with a laugh.

"Ugh, dude don't remind me, and still stuck in this town." She said with a sigh, but then shrugged, "I dunno, I guess I always just picture you as that adorable little nerd with the trucker hat that arrived here like six years ago."

"I wasn't adorable!" protested Dipper, and Wendy was wickedly delighted to hear his voice crack. She waved away his groans as she laughed, but cut herself short for his sake, leaning back on her hands and shaking her head.

"You were totally adorable" she teased and Dipper groaned in frustration, running a hand over his face in embarrassment. Still grinning, Wendy hopped off the counter and nudged him with an elbow. "Come on man, let's get your stuff upstairs." She said, picking up one of his bags.

"What made you decide to come home anyway?" she asked as they made their way through the sitting room.

"Oh, uh" Dipper's voice took a nervous, tone, the cracks begging to show again, "no-no real reason… I just missed the old place, y'know? And, uh, a friend of mine kindawantedtoseeit…" his voice cracked on "friend", and for a moment Wendy felt a twist in her chest, but she spun around with a malicious grin on her face, almost throwing the suitcase down as she pushed Dipper into the nearest chair.

"Dipper, no way! Tell me everything!" she demanded, "it's about time man!"

Dipper's face flushed a deep red and he furiously flailed his hands at her, trying to get her to shut up, and cast a nervous glance around, as if someone could hear them.

"Is-is anyone else here?" he asked nervously, and visibly relaxed when Wendy shook her head. A small, shy smile spread across his face then, and he looked down at his feet in embarrassment. Wendy flopped down beside him on the armrest of the chair and gave him a playful push.

"Come on duu-uude! You're leaving me hanging!" she whined, "Tell me about this person!"

Dipper shrugged her off, not unkindly, and stood up, making a gesture of helplessness.

"I don't know where to begin really…it's not that big a deal. I met her through friends I guess, and we started going out after I changed courses a couple months ago. She wants to spend the summer with me… I think you're gonna like her" he smiled hopefully at Wendy, but at that point she would have congratulated her friend if he brought home a gorilla in a dress.

"Dipper that's great!" she exclaimed, bouncing off the chair, "I can't wait to-wait, did you say you changed courses? I thought you were really digging film and world mythology?" she asked, her exuberance curbed for a moment. Dipper gave a loose shrug, as if a lifetime goal was an easy thing to shrug away.

"Eh, after a while it a seemed so silly, so I decided to go for accounting" he said, picking up his suitcase again, "you know I've always been good at maths"

"Uh… ok…" mumbled Wendy, picking up the other suitcase. Maybe Dipper just found the course less exciting than his normal life, but she couldn't see how accounting was any better. "So…what did your girl think of that" she asked casually as they reached the twins room.

"Oh, well we didn't know each other too well at the time but she thinks it really suits me," he replied, dumping the suitcases on his side of the room, barren except for the growing patches of mould on the wall. He turned to Wendy again, "She's actually so sweet Wendy, you won't believe it I-"

Dipper was interrupted as his phone began to go off, and an awkward silence descended as he dug in his pocket for it, shooting Wendy an apologetic glance.

"Huh, speak of the devil," he murmured, mouthing "It's her," with a smile as he answered. Wendy took a couple of steps back, leaning on the doorframe as she watched her friends face light up as he spoke into the phone.

"Huh?" Dipper was saying, "No, it's just Wendy here why?" he cast curious glance at Wendy, who tried to mime as best she could, "should I leave?"

Frowning, Dipper shook his head. He tilted his head away and focused on the conversation again, from which Wendy could only hear a muffled murmur. There was a slightly confused chuckle from Dipper "What do you mean, 'what to bring?' its summer, shorts, dresses that kind of stuff?" He glanced at Wendy again, making a funny face at her as he pointed at his phone. Wendy stifled a giggle and stuck her tongue out at him. It looked to become a fully-fledged mime war but, at that moment Dipper froze. The muffed voice at the other side of the phone sounded like it giggled, and Dipper blushed like a schoolgirl.

"O-oh." He stammered, looking slightly panicked, yet a slight smile tugged at his lips.

"Dude, what happened?" hissed Wendy, but Dipper just stared at her in mortification and, in one smooth movement, turned on his heel and walked hurriedly to the other end of the room. This sudden change in Dipper piqued Wendy's interest and, though feeling guilty, she strained to listen from the doorway. Dipper's voice was cracking from nervousness, and his blush deepened even more as he listened to the voice at the other end of the phone.

"Uh, I uh, dunno" he mumbled quietly, glancing back at Wendy, who gave him a wave. His eyes begged her to leave, but the mischievous imp in her lead her to merely shrug, and raise her hands in a helpless gesture. Dipper rolled his eyes to heaven as if praying for the ground to swallow him up. Finally he took a deep breath and blurted out a sentence so fast Wendy hardly caught the words.

"I- um, I reallyliketheoneswiththelaceokseeyoutomorrowbye."

Dipper hung up the phone and threw it onto his bed as if it was red hot, and looked towards Wendy with a face that could have easily fried an egg, and eyes that begged her not to say a word. Already Wendy's face was betraying her desire to laugh but she managed to control herself, but couldn't resist a quip at his expense.

"Dude, you know you still have to share this room with Mable, right?" she said, unable to hide a grin. However, its appearance on her face was short lived as Dipper once again turned to her with a mystified expression, faced drained of its flustered embarrassment.

"With who?"


	2. A Worry Shared is

"Hello hello you have reached Mabel!" Mabel didn't pick up until the very last moment, but Wendy was so happy to hear her friend's voice that she didn't care.

"Mabel dude, how are you, it's Wendy!" she said, but she wasn't sure if she would be heard. The noise emitting from Mabel's side of the line was intense. Wendy could hear blaring pop music, along with what she was pretty sure were the sounds of hammers and buzz saws. (Growing up in a lumberjack family had unfortunately given Wendy an ear for such things.)

"I know Wendy," Mabel said with a snort of laughter, "There is such thing as caller I.D, y'know."

"Well I just assumed that you'd have dropped that phone of yours by now," joked Wendy, and there was a laugh from the other end of the line.

"The jokes on you, Wendmiester, I've my phone fully encased in foam! I won't ever have to cry over a cracked screen again!" there was a note of triumph in Mabel's that Wendy couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Yeah, and it only took you how many fails to find that solution? Eight, was it?" she teased.

"Whatever, shut up!" giggled Mabel, and the background noise began to fade away. Her voice now had an echo-y sound, and Wendy guessed she had ducked out of whatever class she had been in. Good thing too, because she wasn't sure how Mabel would take what she wanted to tell her.

"So, what for are you calling for, my amigo? Apart from wanting to hear my beautiful voice, of course," asked Mabel, "You know I'll be there on Friday, right? Or can you not wait till then?" Wendy laughed along with her, but found herself thinking that what Mabel was suggesting might be a good idea.

"You know, maybe I can't… Did you know that Dipper was coming to the falls for the summer?" she asked, hoping maybe she was just overreacting after all. On the other side of the phone there was only silence that stretched until suddenly Wendy's ears were assaulted by the rage of Mabel

"What!?" she yelled, and Wendy could hear her voice rebounding off the echoing halls, "You've actually heard from Dipper? Tell me everything!" she demanded. Wendy explained as fast as she could, frequently interrupted but Mabel with outcries like "He just turned up?" "He's doing WHAT in college?" and "I've only known he's alive from his cheepr feed!"

A slight note of concern had crept into Mabel's voice when Wendy had finished telling her of Dipper's sudden appearance.

"You don't think… he's on drugs or anything do you? I've read people distance themselves if they're on drugs."

Wendy shook her head smiling, before remembering Mabel couldn't actually see her, "Not any I've ever heard of man, I don't think he's in that kind of trouble, but…" Wendy checked neurotically over her shoulder, as if Dipper could have appeared in her car in the past five minutes, "I think that there's something wrong with him, Mabel, he's not …right."

"What do you mean, Wendy?" Mabel asked in concern, "what's wrong?"

Wendy ran a hand over her face, and let out a groan of frustration. "The thing is Mabel; I can't really put my finger on it. He turned up in these stupid clothes, and changed courses and it's just really weird, ok?!"

"O-Kay" said Mabel, but Wendy could hear the scepticism in her voice, "Are you sure? I know he's been acting weird but maybe he's just…growing up?" Wendy could tell Mabel was trying to reassure herself, but there was an uncertainty in her voice that betrayed her.

"Mabel, I didn't want to tell you this, but… I think he forgot who you were…" there was silence on the other end of the phone.

"Mabel?" asked Wendy, wondering if the line had gone dead, "Mabel are you there?"

"He forgot me?" said a small voice in Wendy's ear.

"I think so Mabel, I might be wrong though. I just wanted to know if you had noticed anything strange about him in the past few weeks or whatever. You'll be here soon anyway and we'll find out" said Wendy, trying to force positivity into her voice, as much trying to reassure herself as she was her friend.

"Wait… there is something," mumbled Mabel, and Wendy's heart leapt, hoping it was some sort of explanation, some reason for this strangeness. But Mabel seemed to have forgotten she was there, mumbling to herself.

"Yeah, maybe that is what it was for… he was acting so weird at the time…" there was a pause, and suddenly Mabel's voice was back bright as a bell and fast as a machine gun.

"Look, Wendy, don't worryboutit, we'll get this sorted out! I'll see you real soon, ok? Ok, great! Byeeee!"

The click of the phone left Wendy in shock, staring at her phone in confusion in the growing darkness of the car.


End file.
